The Argentine Homosexual Community (CHA) has condemned the killing of prominent trans activist Diana Sacayán as a hate crime.
Sacayán, who has spent years campaigning for LGBTI rights as co-ordinator of the Anti-discrimination Liberation Movement (MAL) and leader of the International Association of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (ILGA), was found dead with multiple stab wounds and tied to the bed in her apartment in the Flores area of Buenos Aires yesterday.
Diana Sacayán was found dead yesterday (Photo via CHA)
Police sources told Télam that they are investigating the possibility she was attacked by someone she knew as witnesses saw her entering the building with a man.
Sacayán had been due to take part in the women’s march in the 30th National Women’s Meeting in Mar del Plata this weekend but did not attend. Friends say she could not be reached by phone, leading investigators to consider the possibility that she was killed over the weekend.
César Cigliutti, president of the CHA, said in a statement last night: “Diana Sacayán was an admirable activist and companion in our struggle. With all the pain that we feel at her death, and with each of our deaths, we’re not going to accept the position of ‘victim’. That’s why we will be following every step of the investigation and why we also denounce these crimes in our Anual Report.”
The CHA’s annual report on discrimination related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression, which uses cases reported in the media and was released on 17th September, found that in 2014 there were fourteen cases of murders related to “hate crimes”.
Sacayán was well-known for her work with MAL and ILGA and also worked for National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI). Her most recent success was the the Trans Labour Quota Law. Approved last month, the pioneering law states that 1% of jobs in public agencies in Buenos Aires Province must be filled by transsexual, transvestite, and transgender people.
Sacayán was born in Tucumán and moved to La Matanza where she ran as a candidate for Obudsman of the Department of Protection of the People of Matanza in 2012. In the same year she met President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to receive a new DNI recognising her gender as “self-defined female”, becoming the first transgender person to do so under the new law.
“I call for collaboration between national and metropolitan security forces to solve this terrible crime against Diana,” said President Fernández today.
Sacayán had previously denounced two other incidents of discrimination, the most recent one being in August. In 2013, she also reported of mistreatment and police brutality after reporting verbal and physical abuse.
Head of the Public Prosecution Unit for Violence against Women (Ufem), Mariela Labozzetta, said that the case should be investigated under Ufem’s protocol for femicides.
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